B. Sumathi Mathiazhagan, a government school headmistress, is keeping alive a family tradition of sacred music that has been practised for generations in the temple town of Tiruvarur.
e ‘panchamukha vadyam’ at Thyagarajaswamy Temple in Tiruvar. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

B. Sumathi Mathiazhagan, a government school headmistress, is keeping alive a family tradition of sacred music that has been practised for generations in the temple town of Tiruvarur.


Ms. Mathiazhagan, 52, has followed her father Selvaraj in the art of playing the ancient percussion instruments ‘panchamukha vadyam’ and the ‘suddha maddalam’, at the Thyagarajaswamy Temple in Tiruvarur. She is the first woman to have taken over a traditionally male role in this field.